Across Stoke-on-Trent, older adults are opting out of a quiet retirement and proving that sport is not just a ‘young person’s game’.

Throughout the city there are countless people age 70 and over taking part in a range of activities such as yoga, martial arts, bowls and walking football.

This reflects a wider trend: the latest Sports England Active Lives Adult Survey shows that levels of activity among 55-74 year olds and those 75 and over have been steadily growing since 2019, reaching 64.3 per cent and 44.3 per cent respectively in 2024/25.

Many of these ‘later life’ athletes have reported physical, social and emotional benefits.

Among those feeling the benefit is 71-year-old Peter Johnson.

A Taekwondo instructor who holds an 8th Dan Kukkiwon Black Belt, Peter also teaches five to six lessons a week across Stoke-on-Trent and Sandbach as well as continuing to compete internationally.

Throughout the city there are countless people age 70 and over taking part in a range of activities such as yoga, martial arts, bowls and walking football.
This reflects a wider trend: the latest Sports England Active Lives Adult Survey shows that levels of activity among 55-74 year olds and those 75 and over have been steadily growing since 2019, reaching 64.3 per cent and 44.3 per cent respectively in 2024/25.

Another athlete refusing to allow ageing stop them from participating in the sport they love is 70-year-old walking footballer, Dave Proctor.

Previously a semi-professional footballer, Dave suffered from a heart attack which left scarring on his heart and encouraged him to seek new ways of staying active.

He said: “There were a couple of chaps who said, ‘why don’t you come walking football?’

“I must have said, ‘walking football, I can run’, but he told me that it’s faster than you think.”

Now a member of the England walking football squad, the Stoke-on-Trent based athlete explained how walking football has given him a new lease of life and allowed him to continue the sport that has meant so much to him over the years.

He currently plays around three times a week for teams including Stoke City and the Chesterton Crusaders.

“I used to play semi-pro when I was younger, you see,” Dave said.

“I used to get paid for playing and so when you come to the age of about 35, 40, it’s like they don’t want you anymore. Playing walking football, it’s like giving me something in my life to get up and do, something to enjoy.”

He added: “If I can carry on playing, I will. When I get up in the mornings and think ‘I’m going to have a game of football now’, I feel great because I’m going to have a game.

“And then when I’ve come back and had a shower, I feel great because I’ve played – how lucky I am, at my age, to still be able to do it.”

Like many other athletes age 70 and over, Dave strongly recommends sport to other older adults.

He said: “If I could like put letters through people’s letter boxes to encourage them, I would do it. People come to a certain age and think, that’s it, that’s me finished – and it’s not.”

The NHS recommends that “older adults should do some type of physical activity everyday”…

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